In the run up to Malaysia's 13th general election, observers were curious to know if social media would be able to impact the electoral outcome. In the 2008 general election, it was widely accepted that alternative online content disseminated by blogs, party websites and alternative news portals determined the electoral outcome. The opposition then, for the first time, denied the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority in Parliament. By 2013 the role of social media received widespread attention because of its exponential growth in Malaysia since 2008, where there were 800,000 Facebook and 3,429 Twitter users to 2013 when the number increased to 13,220,000 for Facebook and 2,000,000 for Twitter users. This commentary examines the role of social media in Malaysia's 2013 general election and assesses its impact on the electoral outcome.

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Although there has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the restriction of free speech with regard to opposition parties in Singapore, in real terms, the value of free speech for such parties is limited. First, defamation laws in Singapore require the opposition parties to exercise extreme caution to ensure political comments do not result in costly defamation suits or even imprisonment. Second, free speech in itself is of limited use politically for opposition parties if the content of this speech is not disseminated widely by the local media. As a result, both the fear of legal suits and the limited dissemination of content continue to restrict the potential of free speech for opposition parties in Singapore. This means the contribution of free speech activities to inter-party debate is low in Singapore, thereby undermining the fundamental role of democracy premised on fair inter-party competition.

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This article argues that the trends in state regulation, survelliance and control of the internet in Asia stand to effectively reduce political expression. A variety of international media watch and human rights organisations have noted that since September 2011, a slew of anti-terrorism laws have been adopted in Asia which place greater restrictions on the internet. Laws against online pornography, gambling, hate speech and spam have been revised to cover online political content and mobilisation. Such measures limit and reduce the space cyberactivists have to push the demogaphic agenda online. These cybersecurity measures, introduced as part of the 'war against terrorism', represent an extension of already draconian regulation in South-East Asian countries.